Senator Babafemi Ojudu, the Special Adviser to President Buhari on Political Matters, has alleged that the past administration gave $100,000 or $50,000 to every politician or chief that visited Aso Rock.
Ex-President allegedly gave his visitors $100,000 each
Ojudu also added that Buhari has stopped the practise and channelled the money towards provision of infrastructure.
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The Presidential aide said “In the past, somebody would come to Aso Rock, a chief or a politician. And they package $100,000, $50,000 for him. The man gets back to his hotel room, dashes his driver $500, dashes his PA $1,000, his girl friend $200. This has stopped. Such money must go into productive services, medical services, infrastructure etc.
“Let’s do something that is enduring for our people. All these stop gap measures, going as subsidies, we’re going to stop them. Let’s make our refineries work. Don’t let us make millionaires of a few and poor people of millions.”
Ojudu also said Buhari’s government never expected that things will be this difficult, adding that Nigerians will surely get the change they voted for.
The President’s aide also asked Nigerians to be patient, because the problems of the country cannot be solved overnight.
He said “When we were campaigning, oil was still $112 per barrel. Nobody could have thought it would just crash and become $33 per barrel. We’re now on $40 per barrel. Nobody envisaged that our foreign reserve could go as low as $28 billion. “
He also blamed the current state of the nation on corruption.
Ojudu said “What people are saying is just like saying ‘bring back corruption’. They don’t know what corruption has done to this country. You vote about a billion naira for a hospital, and N800 million is taken away by corruption, and you have only N200 million left. So, there won’t be medication, there won’t be ambulances etc you can imagine how many people die due to such act. They stash such money outside the country. They buy houses in America, buy private jets etc.”
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested former minister of state for Finance, under Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Mrs Nenadi Usman allegedly over N2.5b fraud.
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